It was a good election night for the Republican Party, not just nationally, but in Wyoming as well. The party added a seat in both the state house and senate and elected Liz Cheney to replace Cynthia Lummis in the U.S. House. GOP party chairman Matt Micheli said they also added new faces and a bit more diversity.

“Affie Ellis and Tara Nethercott are two new people coming to the state senate, but I think both are going to be outstanding legislators and leaders of this state.”

Both Ellis and Nethercott are women, and Ellis is Native American. Overall though, there will now be just ten women in the legislature compared to last year’s twelve.  

Micheli said the first priority going forward for Republicans will be solving the budget problems caused by the recent energy bust.